Perdue Concedes, Won't Fight Democrat's Win

Georgia's two new senators will be able to take the oath of office without the possibility of challenges from their Republican opponents hanging over their heads. Sen. David Perdue conceded Friday, a day after Sen. Kelly Loeffler, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Perdue congratulated "the Democratic Party and my opponent for this runoff win" without saying Jon Ossoff's name. The runoff victories of Ossoff and Raphael Warnock swing control of the US Senate to Democrats. Warnock will be the state's first Black senator ever, and Ossoff will become Georgia's first Jewish senator.

Perdue's campaign had said it would "mobilize every available resource and exhaust every legal recourse" to turn the election his way. But as he fell further behind Ossoff, and his chances of taking enough of the uncounted ballots disappeared, Perdue conceded. He falsely claimed in his announcement that he'd won the general election, however, and didn't call Ossoff, who learned of the concession through the news media. A couple of deadlines have to pass before the two Democrats can be sworn in, per the Savannah Morning News. Georgia's counties have until Jan. 15 to certify their election results. The state's deadline is Jan. 22, though it can finish the job earlier. (More Georgia stories.)